If you are proud of the way that your home’s exterior paint job looks, then you want that paint to last. Over time, the paint will start to fade away, peel, bubble or simply look unsightly. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. You can get many years of enjoyment out of a single paint job. You can preserve the paint in a few ways and we want to show you every effective way to protect that investment and keep your home looking its best.

Deal with Mold and Mildew Quickly
One of the most destructive substances to your home’s paint job is mold. This can eat through paint and cause moisture bubbles to form, darken your paint job and make it look far less appealing. You’ll want to deal with mold and mildew as soon as you see them, but you also want to take measures to prevent them from forming in the first place. The best way to do that is to stop any water leaks or pooling water around and in your home. In some cases, you can get rid of the mold as easily as spraying it off with a hose or pressure washer, but you may want to apply special protective paint if the problem is severe enough.

Keep the Paint Clean
Dirt and dust can travel through the air and get kicked up onto your house on a regular basis, dirtying up the paint and detracting from its beauty. You should keep the house clean and prevent dirt and dust from staying there too long. Over time, they can degrade your paint and wear it down, so you want to remove these contaminants as soon as you see them.

Check for Peeling and Cracking
Over time, your paint may begin to peel or to crack. This is a sign that it needs to be treated or replaced. It would be a bad idea to simply paint over it. Instead, strip away cracked and peeling paint and replace it with a fresh, new coat. This will not only keep your house and its paint job looking their best, but it also protects the material that makes up your house.

You will most often see signs of cracking and peeling around doors and windows and under the roof. These tend to be the weak parts of the paint, so they are the first to go bad.

You should be checking for imperfections and problems with your paint on a regular basis. The earlier you can catch problems, the sooner you will be able to deal with them and the less damage they can cause over time.

If you are not sure how to deal with some of these issues, then you can consult a painting contractor to look over your home every six months or so. The more often you maintain your home and its paint, the longer it will last, and the effort you put into it will pay off in time.

You may have an idea of what you want your painted house to look like, but have you settled on every color you are going to use? There are probably a few different areas you want to paint, and you may not want them all to be in the same shade or the same color. You also want to ensure that whatever color you choose for the main painting you will be doing works well with the colors already in place in the room. It should not clash with the floor, ceiling or decor, and that can mean performing a serious balancing act.

Coordinating ColoursOne of the better ways to choose a few different paint colors for the same space is to use different shades of your main color. You probably already know what color is going to be your primary focus, but there would be molding, window sills, floors, ceilings and other aspects of the room that you want to paint in a different color from your main one. That’s going to mean picking another color that you like and that works well with whatever your main color is. The easiest way to pull it all together and make for effortless coordination is to use two different shades. So, a lighter shade can be your main color and a darker shade your secondary color.

Contrasting ColoursTo add some more energy to a room, you can use two colors that contrast with one another. Teal and orange, for example, are at opposite ends of the color spectrum. You can find other matches like this by looking up an image of a color wheel. This will help create the kind of atmosphere that you want, and you ought to be aware of how different colors interact and the kinds of moods they can create.

Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks
Did you know that the majority of people have white walls in their home? That can work well for some houses, but it seems very risk averse. It seems like the homeowner could not settle one color that they would be sure would look great, and so they went with the easiest option.

If you want more excitement in your rooms and would like to bring out some personality in them, then you need to be willing to take some risks. Yes, not every color combination you create is probably going to look great, but at least the room will not be boring. It’s okay to experiment sometimes and see how a particular color looks in the room before you decide to start all over again from scratch. This is going to be a great way to find bold choices that really make your house pop with color and vibrancy.

We hope some of these suggestions help you to make the best decision for colors to be used in your home. Use these as a launching pad to decide on exactly the kind of color scheme you want to go with.

One of the more annoying things that can happen to your paint after you apply it, is that it starts to bubble. We’re going to show you why this happens and how you can handle it to ensure that it doesn’t detract from the beauty of your paint job.

Why Does Paint Bubble?
If your interior house paint starts to bubble, then that usually means that there is some moisture underneath the surface or on the surface. This moisture can find its way through all the layers of paint you apply.

This moisture can come from any number of places, but until you deal with that water problem, the paint will continue to bubble. It has nothing to do with the quality of the paint or the paint job and everything to do with environmental factors. Experienced painters can deal with this problem just as often as homeowners doing the work themselves can.

Stop the Moisture
You have to locate the source of the moisture problem. It could be a leaking pipe, bad insulation, water that has seeped in somehow or storm damage. Your wood or other surface could just be old and in need of replacement, which could explain why it has absorbed so much moisture. If it is falling apart, then it may be overly wet as well.

In many cases, you can simply remove the water source. Fix the broken pipe, dry up the excess water, repair a leak or close off a hole to the outside. Any of these may be enough to stop the water from damaging your surface, and afterwards you just need to give surface time to dry out. You can speed up the process by setting up fans or providing ventilation for the area to be painted.

If it is your home’s exterior that has a water problem, then you may just need to wait until the warmer weather has dried up your surface to be painted. It may be necessary to replace some materials that are too old or that have absorbed too much water. If you aren’t sure if you can still use some damaged material, then consult with a panting contractor to find out.

In order to keep bubbles from forming in places where you already painted, you need to ensure that the surface can breathe easily. This means that air needs to be able to come in and out. Most paint is designed to be breathable. However, if you use the wrong kind of paint or don’t do a very good job of applying it, then the surface can trap in moisture and release it as paint bubbles.

If there is a layer of paint on the surface to be painted that it is preventing breathability, then it may need to be removed. It is sometimes necessary to strip away old paint to make room for the new paint. This not only makes the surface more breathable and eliminates paint bubbles, but it also ensures that the new layer of paint can hold on better and longer.

If you try to paint your house yourself, you can be in for a rewarding experience, and it can feel great to have the entire house painted on your own.

However, if you fail to properly prepare the surface you are going to paint, then your paint job may not last very long or look very good.

We are going to go over a few surface preparation mistakes that people make when they are house painting. Hopefully, this list should help you avoid making some mistakes of your own and ensure that if you hire someone to pant the house for you, that you know what kind of mistakes to look for.

Not Sanding
Many times, the outside surface of a house will be too rough in places for paint to be properly applied. The paint may cover that spot for a while, but it won’t take hold like it is supposed to, if the area is too rough. You can fix that by sanding down any rough patches with sandpaper or similar materials. You want as smooth a surface as possible, and it may not be feasible to get a perfectly smooth surface, but if you can get as close to that as you are able, it should be good enough.

Not Clearing off Loose Paint and Spackle
If a homeowner in the past did the house painting themselves or hired a contractor to do the work who did not do a good job, then there may be some loose paint and spackle to deal with on the house’s exterior. That needs to be removed if the new paint is going to stick like it is supposed to. A good painter will remove that excess paint and get rid of the spackle before they start painting, because they want the finished product to be as smooth and as beautiful as possible.

Not Knowing How to Prepare Each Surface
You can’t prepare every surface the same way for painting. Metal, wood and plaster all need different preparation techniques applied to them in order for the surface to be right for painting. For that to happen, you or whoever will be painting needs to know how to treat each surface. You need to know what it takes to get rough spots out of these surfaces and what will prevent paint from staying on for a long period of time.

It takes a lot of work to properly prepare a surface for painting, especially a large surface with a lot of potential problems like a house exterior. This needs to be taken into consideration when you are getting quotes from painters.

There may be tons of work that will need to go into making the surface smooth or fixing mistakes of past paint jobs. You want to be careful about going with a very cheap quote, because it is possible that those painters will make the same mistakes as past ones and not do a very thorough or effective job with your house.

A common mistake homeowners make when trying to find the best painter for the job of repainting their home is to just ask for a quote. They may point the painter at the house or just give the painter some pictures to go by, but they don’t often ask for anything more than the price.

Now, price is important, and you don’t want to be overcharged for a relatively simple job like this, but you also want to factor in other aspects of house painting that are nuanced and often overlooked by homeowners who are just looking for the best deal.

For instance, you should consider how many layers of paint the painter will apply. Do you know how many to use for your house and your environmental conditions for that area? Some painters are going to use fewer coats of paints than others, and that can make a huge difference in how long the jobs takes, how much it costs and how long the paints lasts for.

You should also consider the length of the job. It could be inconvenient for you to oversee the house painting or wait to have it done over the course of a few weeks. Find out when the painter will be able to start work and when they expect to be finished. They may not be able to give you an exact date, but they should be able to supply a reasonable estimate.

Homeowners also need to consider the grade of paint they want used. If they don’t know, they should find that out before getting quotes, as that can be an important part of the quote process. The higher the grade, the longer the paint tends to last, but a high-grade paint can also make the job take longer.

You may not be sure how many coats of paint you want to go with and whether it will be worth it to put in that extra effort and pay the extra cash. It’s okay to ask a painter for some other pricing options, such as how much it would cost to throw on another coat or how much a higher grade of paint would be to use.

It can also help lay out the painting particulars in clear and simple terms. Ask all painters the same questions and tell them exactly what you are looking for.

Your painting proposal should include the following information:

1) How many coats of paint you want to have on the house
2) How many colors you want to use
3) What parts of the house will be painted
4) What quality of paint you want used
5) How soon you want the job finished

If you can give each painter or painting contractor that detailed information, then you will get a more specific and true quote. This helps you figure out the total cost and more accurately compare different painters. While price isn’t everything, knowing exactly how much everything costs will be a helpful piece of information as you make your choice.